Tax hike planned in Schenectady City School District

After an outcry about a proposed cut in music and art classes for the youngest students in Schenectady’s schools, Superintendent Laurence Spring offered a new plan Wednesday.

He proposed adding a 1 percent tax levy increase to the $158.5 million budget for 2013-14.

That would raise $522,000, which would restore most of the cuts to art, music and the elementary libraries. But kindergartners would still have no specialized art or music classes.

A recent survey about budget priorities in the community is available below.

Currently every elementary student — including kindergartners — gets 40 minutes of art and music twice a week, school officials said. They had proposed cutting that to once a week, or simply eliminating special classes for K-2 students.